THURSDAY: What's Cookin'? 5/31/18

[nancycooksnj]

Starting us.

[nancycooksnj]

Good morning friends.

Welcome back Betsy!

I didn't cook last night as it was oldest DD end of year softball dinner. Food was good. There was pizza, salad, chicken francaise, eggplant rollatini, sausage, peppers and onions, spaghetti and pasta vodka.

Tonight I'm  going to grill steak.

Enjoy your day.

Nancy

[marjo]

Nancy how nice you did not have to cook last night. That was always a plus for me to eat someone else's cooking. Sounds like quite a variety. Hope she had a good time playing softball also.

I am ready to go and get the dinner Mark is making. I want to wash my car and get doughnuts for the crew at the locker. Sounds like they need a treat as they have been working hard. He is doing scalloped potatoes beef and pork for the dinner at church. One of the DD put me in charge of going after the meal and taking it to church. So hopefully it gets there just fine. I have my 5 bean salad, Easy Orange Salad in 9x13 glass dish and Sour Cream Raisin Bars to take to church before going to get the food. Hope the day goes good will be a big crowd, lots of family.

Hope you all have a great day today. I will be tired when I get home today but that is just fine all I have to do is put up my feet!!!

Marlene

[wilderness]

Good morning. 58 over night and a nice sunny day. Too bad I have a cat scan, an appointment with my oncologist and have to pick up my new glasses. It will end up being an all day affair. I would much rather be out in the garden getting things done.

Yesterday turned out to be a 9 hour day in the garden but will lots of breaks. I did finish weeding the kitchen garden, got it tilled, amended and planted 32 tomato plants. Also got 2 more hanging baskets done.

Still need to till the big garden. Not sure I can do that all in one day. It is suppose to rain tomorrow so am hoping to get it started Saturday. Spent quite a bit of time watering. It was 80 and the greenhouses had to be watered twice.

I haven't been doing any cooking to speak of except to grab something for dinner.  Right now need to spend all my time outside.

Have a great day.

Bet

[redsoxmom]

Hello to all. 

Misty here today.  I guess I will see the sun when I get to Palm Springs. 

Yesterday was Dd's last day of high school.  They called her in the office to check her out and they reminded her of the awards program tonight.  She said she had decided to go to the one Friday and not today.  The school said they insist as she is Valedictorian that she attend tonight.  Like I told her months ago....  So we are going as they are evidently recognizing her. She is pretty stubborn and would not listen to me.  

Since we will be out I think we will pick up take out or eat out someplace. 

Youngest dd is taking her last 2 finals today.  She has gotten 4 B's so far on her finals.  She never studies.  She thinks she can just take a test and get away with it. So far that works but I have been telling her that ends in a few months when she goes to high school.  She probably won't listen to me either.

I hope everyone is well.  I have not had time to read posts.  Sending a hug to anyone that needs one. 

Betsy

[cfniervt]

Good morning friend.

I had a loooonnnngggg day yesterday! Had to do interviews for the new state position (they had several people from different agencies to do the interviewing and so me from ours) Had to work with the Sec of Human Services to get it done. They decided to do 6 interviews in one day! Too long!

We had someone throw out a cig butt on our property yesterday and it started a fire in our mulch! Neighbor saw it and came and got DH. Large area burned but it could have been worse.

Nancy- Nice to have that meal out with DD's team! Steak sounds good tonight!

Marlene- Hope you can get it all done and it turns out to be nice. I know it will with you involved. Give that cat a pet on the head for me!

Bet- We have kept the windows open all night for a week now. Seems so nice. I think you will get more rain than we will. We are heading over to the Americade next Friday. I am going to talk DH into eating at Golden Corral! LOL Won't take much talking as he likes that place too.

Betsy- I am laughing at your DD and her not studying! My sister was just like that. She went through high school that way and made honor roll every year all quarters! Graduated with high honors! I was lucky to get C's! LOL Good luck to your DD's both of them!

Well I am in my favorite Deli town for my 3rd from last time! Will miss coming here! I will make some excuse to come down once in a while for sure! LOL Like Patch Team meetings at the resource center! Yeah! That works!

Chris

[nybirder]

Betsy--how wonderful that your daughter is Valedictorian! Quite an honor. My oldest nephew was one who didn't study much in high school and got high marks. What a shock when he got to his freshman year of college studying electrical engineering. He called his father near the end of the first semester and asked his opinion of changing his major to music! His dad told him to make an appointment immediately with his advisor. I am pleased to say that he made it through college cum laude in engineering but it would have been higher if he hadn't almost failed his first semester. It was a painful lesson in good study habits. LOL! And his oldest son is just as bright--but loves to study--so he's not even dealing with the "some day you'll have a kid just like you" threat from his dad!

Tamaralynn--I'm anxious to hear how your Instant Pot pork chop casserole turned out. There are so many people posting recipes out there and, frankly, I don't trust some of them just from personal experience. Getting the right timing can be tricky the first time. Hoping you enjoy using yours as much as I have with mine.

Have a good day.

Birdy

[tamaralynn]

Hi and happy Thursday!

Last day of May-how can that be?

I woke up again at 4, and couldn't get back to sleep so got up around 4:30 and watched tv, and did cross stitch until almost 8 then went back to bed for a bit. I have been taking Tylenol p.m. at night but need to go and get some unisom,  which I am out of. they work a little better for me. I have  been hibernating and not wanting to go anywhere this week. I may have to get out today, as I need a sympathy card. My bff's FIL passed away. They have been expecting it. The services are Friday. I was hoping to go but really can't miss work again at the resale shop, plus I am taking Helen out right afterwards.

Birdy, the casserole turned out great. I diluted a can of cream of mushroom soup but only put half of the liquid in. That was a great choice,  we had lots of liquid. I cooked them on manual setting. I tried to set it for 15 minutes but did not know how so they cooked all 30 minutes. I assume if I want a 25 minute cycle I just cancel after 15 minutes. They chops were super tender. I browned them first on the saute setting.  When I get by a grocery store I will plan on buying some baby back ribs and trying your method.

I just got a couple of beets from the garden. I had to take the dogs outside for a few minutes. One of the current volunteers asked if she could pick some beet greens from our garden. She uses them like fresh spinach - just saute's them for a few minutes. She said they are sweeter than spinach and delicious, so I might try that tonight. I am still hoping for chicken and rice. Just need to dig around in the freezer for chicken breasts-I am pretty sure I have some that are not cooked. Or if I get by the store today I will pick some up.

Elza, your dessert from last night sounds wonderful. I need to decide on what I will take to the church pot luck this week. It's spaghetti week, so I will probably take a salad and a dessert.

Chris, thank goodness your neighbor was home and noticed that fire in the yard! That could have been really bad.

Time to go and decided what to make for lunch. Have a super day!

[annrms]

Afternoon, friends! It's another lovely day here. Could use some rain, though. After finishing at the senior center, DH and I finally got to the garden center to get way less plants than we usually do. Last year, since I was recovering from appendicitis, we did not do decorative plantings. We didn't miss it at all so we decided to cut back again this year. I did get my herbs, and will plant them after the sun passes over and we have shade.
Birdy & Tammy - I came across and article on TOH Facebook this morning about what not to cook in the IP. If you scroll down past the article, there are a bunch of recipes for the IP adapted from other methods. Two of my recipes are adapted! I was surprised! LINK I posted the Greek Ribs recipe on another thread if anyone is interested.
Betsy - I had a number of students who did not study in the elementary grades; they started to run into trouble in 7th grade with their lack of practiced organization of time especially, but the saying, "Hurry and hire them now while they still know everything!" was so apropos!
Chris - We've had the windows open and a window fan running every night, but the humidity will be arriving tomorrow so that nixes the open windows.
Nancy - We're having steak on Saturday. At Aldi yesterday, I found a Garlic Vinaigrette that I'm thinking of using as a marinade.
Bet - Hope all goes well with your oncologist appointment and scan.
Marlene - Your contributions to the Church supper sound amazing! Hope you enjoy!
Tonight we are having a Korean Stir-fry with a sauce I got from Fischer & Wieser. It has only 3 grams of sugar. I'll slice up cabbage, onions, celery, & red bell pepper and add some bean sprouts to cooked hamburger. I have some mini-egg rolls and pot stickers from Aldi that I'll cook up, too.
Enjoy the rest of the day! Waving!

[cooktocook]

Good afternoon friends.  Today is National Macaroon Day.

Ann, I finally made the Banana Split Zucchini Bread and posted the recipe for you (and anyone else that is interested) on a separate post.  A bit of work with all that goes into it, but worth.  Very tasty and it made an additional 6 loaves then the recipe states, so that was a nice bonus.

Last night a retired teacher friend  that moved to Ma. from down here called as she was concerned about a phone call she got yesterday.  Seems Alberto and the raging seas have really beaten up the beach where she and DH own a condo.  She asked me if I knew anything about the conditions.  I mentioned that the pictures they are showing on the news look bad, but didn't realize it was right by her condo.  She asked if it wouldn't be too much trouble if I'd have time today to ride out and personally look at it.  Now home for the summer, I had no problem doing that since I was planning to go out to see another friend this morning.  Her condo had a wide strip of beach when I was last out that way; although it lost some of the beach, it was not as bad as other places I could see.  However, another storm and that might be the end of the beach.  Plans are underway for beach nourishing, hopefully before another storm.

After I did the above, I went over to my former teacher aide.  I hadn't seen her in awhile and I wanted to take her niece a graduation gift (she graduated this past Sunday from Cornell with a degree in Archaeology).  Olivia is now home for the summer but will be going on to Stanford in California in September to earn her PhD in the Classics, a 5 year program.  Olivia was telling me that she got a small stipend as she will be co-teaching some classes there.  Very smart young lady, but not the least surprised, both of her parents are doctors here in town.

After I got home I had to take my verticals down off the sliders and living room windows.  They are in excellent shape, but after 25 years I am ready for a change.

Betsy, lots going on at your house.  Glad you and DH had a nice time in Texas.  Nice that your DD's are finishing up school and soon your DS and his GF will be married.  In HS, I was one of those that never studied and got excellent grades.  Got the good grades in college too, but had to study my bottom off! 

Chris, wow, so glad your neighbor was home and saw the fire break out.  Could have been so much worse than a mulch fire.

Bet, you are sure keeping busy with all your gardening.  I'm sure it is a lot of work, but I bet the results will be simply breathtaking when all is in bloom.  I hope you'll post some pictures when everything is up and running.

Marlene, you have a busy day.  Surely everyone will enjoy your contribution to the church.

Tammy, although I have never had beet greens, an aide at one of the schools that I sub at, just told me a few weeks ago how delish they were.  She said that she puts a drop of vinegar on them after cooking them.  Hope you'll get a good night of sleep this evening.

Nancy, what a nice end of year softball dinner and that it was good too!  When is your girls last day of school?  You?

Birdy, you seem to really be enjoying your Instant Pot--happy for you.  I have seen a lot of advertisements for them and it seems like a lot of recipes being posted for them, but as you say, the recipes can be questionable.  I hope in time you get some very good ones.

Dinner tonight will be leftover spaghetti, meatballs, and sausage.

Waving to all.  Have a nice afternoon/evening.

Lori

   

[nybirder]

Tammy--When you set the IP on manual, you can change the cooking time by pressing the up or down buttons to set the time you want. Then, wait until the "on" message comes on when it starts heating. When it comes up to pressure, the minutes will then show up and count down. There's no need to stop it in mid-cycle to get the time you want.

I think a handy rule of thumb for what to cook in an IP is pretty much what you would do in a slow cooker as long as you have the required liquid to bring it to pressure. That would be 1 cup for the 6 quart and 1 1/2 cups for the 8 quart. This could be water, broth, etc. as long as it isn't too thick because it needs to put out steam and not scorch. Some ingedients will put put their own juice so you can get away without diluting your sauce too much.

Since I don't like flabby chicken skin, doing a whole chicken doesn't appeal to me unless the goal is to get wonderful moist chicken meat and/or broth. Broth doesn't take long done in the IP. And from what I have learned, it's great for rice and brown rice as well as steel-cut oatmeal. People rave about how great it is for beans--haven't tried it yet. With those foods, you can't fill more than half or you can get sputtering from the vent because of the starch.

Pretty much anything you don't need to have crispy is a candidate for the IP. However, I've seen chicken wings cooked in the pot, browned in the oven, and tossed with sauce. Many recipes save some time but the big thing for me is no need to babysit the cooking plus not heating up the kitchen in summer. There is very little heat coming from the pot while it is cooking.

I haven't decided what my next project will be. Probably another batch of potatoes cooked with hard boiled eggs for salad. The first batch turned out pretty well and only took 5 minutes..

Birdy

[emr]

It's a stormy afternoon! I got off work early and stopped at Publix -- it started raining just as I headed out into the parking lot with my purchases. I was able to get my bags in the trunk and the buggy back to its corral and then jump into the car before the bottom dropped out, thank goodness.

The roast I'm cooking sure smells good -- we'll have mashed potatoes and green beans with it. 

Lori, I looked at the bread recipe. It does look like a lot of prep but it also sounds delicious!

[marjo]

Well they ran out of pork and beef and scalloped potatoes!! She ordered for 150 and was over 200. We went from platters to smaller round plates. There were a lot salads and bars left. Why don't people order more to have enough?? The family is huge to begin with.

Got home and Chuck was here to put up other garage door opener so gave him a ice cream treat and some of the bars I made.

Then got a call they put MIL on Hospice. I knew it was coming. So will go sign papers tomorrow. We all knew it would be coming. So here we go again.

Marlene

[Tasty]

(((Marlene))) hugs my friend.

[emr]

Oh, Marlene, saying a prayer for you.